He pulled off the move late in the first half of the 127-113 setback Sunday at Staples Center in Los Angeles. James secured a deflected rebound and held the ball with his right hand. He turned to his left and looked like he was about to pass the ball off to Kyle Korver.

Instead, James decided to hold onto the ball and throw a pass to a wide-open Ante Zizic in the paint.

Zizic went in for an uncontested slam-dunk, getting the Cavaliers within three points of the lead. James scored a team-high 24 points for the Cavaliers. He also had 10 rebounds and seven assists in the loss. Zizic scored 15 points and had seven rebounds.

Julius Randle led the Lakers with 36 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists in the win.

“I just thought Randle had a good game. I thought he just out toughed us. He bullied us the whole night,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue told reporters after the loss. “We had no answer for him.”